Who Are You To Judge Another's Servant?

"Why do we usurp God's right to judge? ...It is for God alone to judge, to justify or to condemn. He knows the state of each one of us and our capacities, our deviations and our gifts, our constitution, and our preparedness ...according to the knowledge  that He alone has ...And how do you know what tears he has shed about it before God? You may well know about the sin, but you do not know about the repentance." [St. Dorotheos of Gaza- Discourse on Refusal to Judge our Neighbor. B#45 pp. 133,135]

Forgiveness Sunday 2014

Byzanfest 2014- My Pick For Best Film

Byzanfest 2014- Orthodox Filmakers- see the top 12. Below is my pick for Best Film.

My Tough, Coptic Friends

I call the Copts my friends here, because, for some, it is offensive to refer to the Copts as brothers. Why? Because some 1400-1500 years ago, there was an issue of semantics surrounding the nature of Christ. Is it a dual nature or a single nature? Well, the Copts (Egyptians) say they are NOT monophsites- that they believe in the two natures of Christ- FULLY GOD AND FULLY MAN. Some, however, insist on telling the Copts what they believe.... and the debate continues. All I know is that the Copts I have met love, I say LOVE, God and LOVE people. They are more loving and more Christian by their fruits than many of the "real" Orthodox Christians I have known. 

I have wept as I watched the Coptic Pope speak of forgiveness. I have been blessed by the respect the Coptic laymen have for the clergy, even those who are not Coptic. I am most humbled, however, by the commitment- even unto death- that the Copts show everyday, as they endure persecution, not only in America, but in their own Egypt. Their churches are being destroyed and their people massacered by the thousands. I do not miss an opportunity to tell a Coptic Christian that I am praying for them and their people.

Today, I met a hard working Coptic man as he served me at a Greek Restaurant. With his broken English and genuine smile, he told me that he had been in America only four years. "Are you an Orthodox Christian?", I asked. "Yes", he said with joy. To prove his faith, he revealed a tattoo on his neck, on his arm, and on his chest. A cross, the Theotokos and an Arabic word, which I assumed left no doubt as to whom he served and would serve his entire life. I thought at that moment that the Coptic people know more than most, the truth of the popular bumper sticker which says, "Orthodoxy, Christianity, Only Tougher". To the Copt, this truth is a life or death statement. "The Muslims", he said, "they are no good." It is the Muslims who are killing Christians by the thousands all across the world today, and I count my Coptic friend, among those whose faith and experience makes them tough-strong-mighty in the eyes of God. I am ashamed and humbled in their presence. And I am weak compared to them. So are many of us who confess the faith and have not experienced persecution such as they have. "By their fruit you shall know them."  By their fruit, may I not call them my brothers?

The Theater Of Heaven

Retire from the earth, and look to the theater that is in heaven. If men should praise you, then afterwards they will blame you, will envy you, will assail your character; or if they do not, yet their praise will not benefit you. It is not so with God. He delights in praising your virtuous deeds. Have you spoken well and obtained applause? What have you gained? If those who applauded you were benefited, changed their minds, became better men, and had desisted from their evil deeds, then you might indeed rejoice, not at the praises bestowed, but at the wonderful change for the better. But if they continue their praises and loud plaudits, but gain no good by what they applaud, you ought rather to grieve, for these things turn to their judgement and condemnation. 

Does no one honor you? You ought to rejoice at it. For God will not lay to your charge, among other things, that you have enjoyed honor... For he who is not honored in the present life, who is despised, and held in no consideration, but is insulted and scorned, gains this at least, if nothing else, that he does not have to answer for being honored by his fellow-servants. And on many other accounts he gains by it. He is brought down and humbled, nor if he would, can he be high-minded, if he takes the more heed to himself...

Let us not seek for honors, but evade them when they are offered; let us cast them from us, let us extinguish that desire... The human glory is empty, and an imitation of glory: it is not true glory. Only beauty which is natural, which is within, is lasting: that which is put on externally, when the threater breaks up, and the masks are taken off, each appears what he really is...

Let no man praise you, for it profits nothing; and if he blames you, it does not harm you... And herein we are made like God, that He needs no glory from men. (St. John Chrysostom, Homily II on Titus I)

"DUCK"!

I was raised hearing the old adage, "God hates the sin but loves the sinner." Since this applies to those who commit homosexual sin, in order to love as God loves, Christians must hate homosexuality, but love the homosexual. Is this not what Phil Robertson of the A&E Reality Show Duck Dynasty, expressed to the interviewer in this recent GQ article?

"What does repentance entail? Well, in Robertson’s worldview, America was a country founded upon Christian values (Thou shalt not kill, etc.), and he believes that the gradual removal of Christian symbolism from public spaces has diluted those founding principles... He sees the popularity of Duck Dynasty as a small corrective to all that we have lost."

“Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong,” he says. “Sin becomes fine.” 

[Interviewer] What, in your mind, is sinful?

“Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong. Sin becomes fine. Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men ... Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers -- they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

It seems that warning people of the destructiveness of sin is love, but GLAAD spokesperson, Wilson Cruz said, "Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil's lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe." 

No, Wilson, the lie is found only in your statement. True Christians believe the Word of God as found in the scripture and tradition of the Church. Since those words seem to fly in the face of your seared conscience of godly morality, I lovingly suggest that you "duck" at the following:

^"Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men." 

(1 Corinthians 6:9)

"If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination." (Leviticus 20:13).

"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion. ‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you." (Leviticus 18:22-24).

"For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due." (Romans 1:26-27).

"As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." (Jude 7)
"Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." (Genesis 19:4-5)

"Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted." 1 Timothy 1:8–11

God hates homosexuality...but loves the homosexual. So do all true followers of Jesus the Christ, including Phil Robertson,

“I myself am a product of the 60s; I centered my life around sex, drugs and rock and roll until I hit rock bottom and accepted Jesus as my Savior. My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together, however, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.” Phil Robertson

Vanity, Vanity, All Is Not Vanity

Bearded men are wrought with perilous events which threaten the comeliness of their appearance. Our beards tend to be a catch-all at meal time. In conversation, if we see eyes darting to our chins, we know it is time to shake our beards free of debris. We must also be careful around fire. Many a man has smelled the smell of burning hair during liturgy or evening prayers at home. Another way you know that your beard has caught fire is that someone rushes up and begins striking you about the face or tossing holy water on you at the most inopportune time. Now, there may be other reasons for these actions, but the smile on your attacker's face is an indication that it was a benevolent, life preserving act. In either case, the beard is prone to damage or disarray. Because of such a state of affairs, some clergy have put on the piety of not caring what they look like, to the extent that they do not brush or comb their beard or hair. To them it is vanity to care about such things. For me? I brush my beard, put oil on it, and keep my hair as neat as possible. To me, this is not vanity, but an act of love for those who have to look at me. Makes sense to me.

Some in orthodoxy say it is vanity to be a blogger, or if you are a blogger, at least take care not to promote yourself by making the blog about you-photos included. For me, I look to the first bloggers, particularly Saint Paul the Apostle, to immolate. He spoke much about his personal life, his state of mind, his temptations, his "Journey To Orthodoxy", in order to remain a transparent disciple of Christ--warts and all--so that he might "win a few." This is blogging- this is not vanity. The photo? I imagine Saint Paul, had he the technology, may have distributed photos of himself to the churches as a token of love, and as a connection with those whom he had not had an opportunity to meet. I, too, have a prominent photo of myself on the JTO blog. It helps people around the world feel as if they are communicating with a real person. Personally, I prefer to participate on other blogs when I know what the person looks like and a little about them. I find it strange that Orthodox Church websites rarely have photos of the clergy. Surely it would not be vanity to do so. A website is intended to inform. A person perusing a website for a church home, benefits by seeing faces and thus eliminating some of the unknown before visiting a parish.

So I groom and smile--and keep blogging-- with photo attached. Vanity? Not all is vanity.

Tonsured

My Journey To Orthodoxy has led me to a very sobering place--the lowest of the low--a place of servitude and rank, void of acclaim. Several times today I have been congratulated. A nice gesture, and well intended, but a confusing dichotomy for a newly tonsured Reader in the Orthodox Church. The rank of Reader is the entry point for Orthodox clergy and a simple position of service- so I don't know what to do with the well-intended congratulations offered by sincere and godly people. The dichotomy is the fact that Christ called the servant the greatest of all. Yet, to be great you must be the least--thus the confusion, and yet it makes total sense, if one has eyes to see.

Today, His Beatitude, The Very Most Reverend Metropolitan John, Archbishop of New York and New Jersey, First Heirarch of the Holy Synod, of the Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of North and South America and the British Isles, within the Tomos of Union with the True Orthodox Churches of Greece, Russia, and Italy, saw fit to tonsure me and make me a Reader. With this low place of service comes a high measure of grace extending from Vladyka John's hand of blessing. With the charge to establish a mission center in Tennessee, my wife Xanthia and I will establish a place of prayer and ministry in the Middle Tennessee region of the south, USA.

This Orthodox Christian communion focuses not on what is wrong with the world, but, rather, on Christ Himself, who has, is, and will make all things right. All who come to Christ will find a savior and redeemer ready to extend to them His love and redemption under the umbrella of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. 

Please pray for me, a sinner, that I will trully be an extenion of the ministry of Vladyka John and of our Lord Jesus Christ who was, and is, and is to come!

 

Why God Permits Temptations

Ascetical Homilies of St Isaac the Syrian, Homily 61

 

By the love which the saints show for God on account of the things they suffer for His name’s sake (when they endure and do not forsake that which God loves), their hearts acquire the boldness to gaze toward Him without a veil and to beseech Him with confidence. Great is the power of bold prayer. For this reason God allows His saints to be tried by every sorrow, then to experience anew and to prove His aid, and to understand how great a providence He has for them, for in their perils He is found to be their Redeemer. And again, He does this so that they may gain wisdom from temptations, lest they be unlearned men and be deprived of the two parts of training, and so that they may acquire the knowledge of all things, lest perhaps they be mocked by the demons. For if He exercised them only in that which is good, they would lack training in the other part and would be blind in battles.

 

If we say that God guides His saints without training and without their knowledge of it, we must conclude that He wishes them to become like oxen and asses and creatures which possess no freedom. If a man is not first tried by the experience of evils, he has no taste for the good. Hence when in evils he meets with that which is good, he will be unable in knowledge and freedom to make use of it as being his very own. How sweet is knowledge that is gained from actual experience and from diligent training, and what power it gives to the man who through much experience has found it within himself, the same is known by those who have been assured of and have seen the help it affords them. They learn the weakness of their nature and the help of Divine power when God first withholds His power from them [while they are amid temptations]. Thus He makes them conscious of their nature’s impotence, the arduousness of temptations, and the cunning of the enemy. Thus He gives them to understand against whom they must wrestle, what kind of nature they are clothed with, how they are protected by Divine power, how far they have advanced on the way. To what height God’s power has raised them up, and how powerless they are before the face of every passion when the Divine power is withdrawn from them. Through all these things they acquire humility, cleave closely to God, look for His help with expectation, and persevere in prayer. Whence could they have received all these boons, if they had not had experience of the many evils which God allowed them to undergo? As the Apostle says, ‘And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan.’ But by the experience of many interventions of divine assistance in temptations, a man also acquires firm faith. Henceforth he has no fear, and he gains stout-heartedness in temptations from the training he has acquired.

 

Trial is profitable for every man. For if trial was profitable for Paul, ‘Let every mouth be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.’ Ascetic strugglers are tried, that they may add to their riches; the slothful are tried, that they may thereby guard themselves from what is harmful to them; the sleepy are tried, that they be armed with wakefulness; those who are far away are tried, that they may draw nearer to God; those who are God’s own are tried, that with boldness they may enter into His house. The son who is not trained will receive no profit from the riches of his father’s house. For this reason, then, God first tries and afflicts, and thereafter reveals His gift. Glory be to our Master Jesus Christ Who brings us the sweetness of health by stringent medicines!

 

There is no man who will not feel oppressed at the time of training. And there is no man who will not find the time bitter wherein he is given the virulent potion of trials to drink. Without temptations a man cannot acquire a strong constitution, yet to endure with patience is not within our power. For how should the clay vessel endure the vehemence of the waters, if the divine fire had not hardened it? If we submit ourselves to God, while beseeching Him humbly with perseverance in unceasing desire, we shall certainly receive all, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

“That I May Know Him"

Xanthia Lewis

By Xanthia Lewis

The other day I was thinking about the relationship we have with celebrities.  We read about them, we troll the internet for photos of them.  We spend our hard earned dollars to see their concerts and buy their DVDs.  We feel like we know them. Yet, if we met one on the street, we’d have to admit, there is no friendship there.  We are fans, not intimates.

It occurred to me that it is often the same in our spiritual walk.  We read about Christ. We fill our homes with icons and crosses. We spend our hard earned dollars to go to religious conferences, buy books about the faith and the early church fathers. We even participate in the works of the church.  And yet, if we met Him on the street, would we have to admit, there is no friendship there?  Would we have to admit that we are fans of Christ, but not intimates? 

 “ . . . that I may know Him and the power of the resurrection.” (St. Paul -Philippians 3:10) The saints tell us by their examples as well as by their words that prayer is vital to this intimate knowledge of Christ. Not the shopping list of prayers we normally pray, as we tell Him what we need, how we want it, and when.  Prayer must be more than just words, and standing, and prostrations.  It is entering into a time of “knowing” if you will.  To know Him in a very basic sense.  Like the young lovers who walk hand- in-hand, absorbed in each other’s presence where words are not needed.  Or like the child to gives a contented sigh as he sits quietly on his daddy’s lap.  Or like the friend who sits with you during tragedy when no words can help. 

I've always been a multi-tasker.  It is a strength, and a weakness.  A weakness because the biggest challenge for me in prayer, is to focus on one task – the task at hand. Knowing  Christ.  Not approaching Him with my list of details for the day, nor even worse, slipping him in to His “slot.”  But allowing the prayers of the church to remind me of Who He is, and why that’s important, and then taking time to look into His eyes and “know.”

[Xanthia is the wife of JTO BLOG Author Nathan Lee Lewis]

The Holly Spirit?

It seems that Holly-wood is now playing the role of the Holy Spirit. A new T.V. Reality Show encourages repentance from those who have wronged another. On its face, it seems to be a good thing, but it is a little gratuitous to tape the repentance, show it to the world and bank the advertising dollars for corporate gain. 

If we will simply follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we will not need the Holly Spirit to lead us to repentance.

The words of our Lord:
"Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."

"I’M SORRY!” NATIONWIDE CASTING of GROUNDBREAKING TV SERIES DID YOU DO SOMETHING BAD TO SOMEONE THAT “SORRY” JUST CAN’T FIX? IS THE GUILT EATING YOU ALIVE AFTER YOU DESTROYED SOMEONE’S LIFE? WE WILL CHANGE THEIR LIFE NOW FOR THE BETTER ON YOUR BEHALF. (Details to you after you submit~ BUT we will be doing VERY nice things for them) • Did you knowingly get someone fired so that you could take their job? • Did you sleep with a friend’s boyfriend just so they would to break up? • Have you ever use social media to spread rumors about someone that you knew weren’t true? • Do you now regret your actions and wish you could be forgiven? Everyone deserves a second chance and so do you! AN EMMY AWARD WINNING PRODUCTION CO. & A MAJOR CABLE NETWORK WANT TO GIVE YOU AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP THE VERY PERSON YOU HURT. Must be at least 21 years old and legal U.S resident